This is one of my favorite live albums. And it’s one of the best-selling albums of any kind. “Do You Feel Like We Do” happens to contain one of my favorite guitar solos.
This record created such a frenzy in popular culture that President Ford invited Peter Frampton to the White House.1
“The album took root in America’s Top 40 for almost two years. If subsequent name-checks in Malcolm In The Middle, Wayne’s World 2 and even Vic Reeves’ Big Night Out weren’t enough to Ronseal its influence upon popular culture, then the appearance of an animated Peter Frampton performing The Simpsons, performing Do You Feel Like We Do surely was.”2
The AllMusic review:
At the time of its release, Frampton Comes Alive! was an anomaly, a multi-million-selling (mid-priced) double LP by an artist who had previously never burned up the charts with his long-players in any spectacular way. The biggest-selling live album of all time, it made Peter Frampton a household word and generated a monster hit single in "Show Me the Way." And the reason why is easy to hear: the Herd/Humble Pie graduate packed one hell of a punch on-stage -- where he was obviously the most comfortable -- and, in fact, the live versions of "Show Me the Way," "Do You Feel Like I Do," "Something's Happening," "Shine On," and other album rock staples are much more inspired, confident, and hard-hitting than the studio versions.3
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For details about this project, read this: Project 1001 Albums
In 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Tim Jones wrote:
Peter Frampton’s live double epitomizes post-Vietnam, escapist sunshine rock. With an estimated 16 million sales, it is second only to Bruce Springsteen’s 1985 blockbuster as history’s most successful live set.
Following a template established by Kiss with their Alive!, the album transformed a minor leaguer into a major player. 4
Enjoy and listen without prejudice. Cheers!
Prime Playlist: 170. Frampton Comes Alive by Peter Frampton
Charts
• Peak on Billboard 200 album chart: #1 (ten weeks)5
• Singles on Billboard Hot 100 chart:
> “Show Me the Way” #6
> “Do You Feel Like We Do” #106
• RIAA certification: 8x Platinum | August 2, 20117
Released on January 15, 1976. Here’s what else was happening:
Pop Culture
• Number one song: “Convoy” by C. W. McCall8
• Number one album: Chicago IX: Chicago's Greatest Hits by Chicago9
• Number one movie: The Adventures of the Wilderness Family by Stewart Raffill10
• Most watched TV programs: All in the Family, Laverne & Shirley, Rich Man, Poor Man, Maude, The Bionic Woman, Phyllis, Sanford and Son, The Six Million Dollar Man, Rhoda, Happy Days, ABC Monday Night Movie11
• NYT bestseller, fiction: Curtain by Agatha Christie12
• NYT bestseller, non-fiction: Bring on the Empty Horses by David Niven13
Some other albums released that month
• Let the Music Play by Barry White
• Desire by Bob Dylan
• Songs for the New Depression by Bette Midler
• Wanted! The Outlaws by Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Jessi Colter & Tompall Glaser
• Station to Station by David Bowie
• Coney Island Baby by Lou Reed
• From Every Stage by Joan Baez
• Havana Daydreamin' by Jimmy Buffett
• Native Sons by Loggins and Messina
• Thoroughbred by Carole King14
Sport
• Jan 11 Dorothy Hamill (19) wins her 3rd consecutive US national figure skating championship.
• Jan 14 Ted Turner becomes CEO of Atlanta Braves.
• Jan 18 Super Bowl X, Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, FL: Pittsburgh Steelers beat Dallas Cowboys, 21-17; MVP: Lynn Swann, Pittsburgh, WR.15
Notable Births
• Jan 13 Michael Peña, American actor (Crash; End of Watch, American Hustle; César Chávez), born in Chicago, Illinois.
• Jan 21 Emma Bunton, British pop singer (Spice Girls - "Girl Power"), born in London, England.16
Historical Events
• Jan 13 Sarah Caldwell is 1st woman to conduct at NYC Metropolitan Opera House as she led orchestra in a performance of "La Traviata".
• Jan 15 Sara Jane Moore sentenced to life for attempting to shoot US President Gerald Ford.
• Jan 21 Supersonic Concorde has its 1st commercial flights.
• Jan 22 Bank robbery in Beirut nets $20-50 million (record).17
Notable Deaths
• Jan 8 Zhou Enlai (1898-1976), Premier of the People's Republic of China, dies of bladder cancer at 77.
• Jan 12 Agatha Christie, English crime writer (Murder on the Orient Express, Mousetrap), dies at 85.
• Jan 23 Paul Robeson, American stage and screen bass-baritone singer ("Old Man River"), actor, and civil rights activist, dies of stroke complications in Philadelphia at 77. 18
Jones, Tim, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Fifth printing, ed. by Robert Dimmery p. 372.
Jones.
Ibid.